Always There For You
by NCISBALTOFAN
Summary: (ONESHOT) Alec was orginally jealous when Jace came to the Institute because he figured he'd have to prove himself twice as much when "perfect" Jace came along, but when young Alec injures himself during practice Jace puts his fears to rest. (Alec and Jace are both young like 10ish, 12ish?)


**ONESHOT**

"_You should have seen Alec do flips at first. I think he kicked himself in the head once." – Jace (City of Fallen Angels)_

Young Alexander Lightwood couldn't have been more excited for today. He was going to be training in the gym with the other kids his age for once. He'd always been a bit of an introvert and had always kept to himself, something his mother frowned upon. She wanted Alec to succeed in becoming a Shadowhunter like the rest of his family and friends at the Institute. His sister Isabelle wasn't quite as quiet and shy as Alec, but she wasn't quite old enough to train in the gym yet with the weapons or high balance beams. She was always the poster child for the Lightwood family, the one that was destined to succeed and to be outgoing and stare danger straight in the eyes and go in blazing to kill it. Alec was sort of the forgotten one, even though he was the oldest.

Then Jace Wayland had come along. Alec immediately felt a little betrayed, here he was already forgotten and forced to be in the shadow of his sister, but here comes along another boy, faster, stronger, better, than he and he was once again being surpassed by greatness right underneath his nose. He didn't hate Jace; he found that he couldn't no matter how hard he tried.

Jace was very young around the time he came to the Institute, not too much younger than Alec, but young enough. He had been trained by his father though; a man whom Alec didn't know of his name, but apparently his reputation preceded him. Jace didn't speak much at first, but he had walked over to Alec first and shook his hand. That was when Alec's wall he'd put up came down a little, even more so when his mom had told him that he and Jace would be sharing a room until the Wayland boy could be issued his own.

Alec hadn't minded that.

Jace had been Alec's first crush, not that he'd have ever admitted that out loud. Jace was to be nothing more than Alec's "brother" and his mother wouldn't have had it any other way. Alec had felt that seed of bitterness that was planted in him long ago resurfacing.

Today though was going to be his day.

-8-8-8-8-8-

He and Jace were in the rather large training gym and practicing the techniques Alec's father had showed them earlier. Jace was performing the moves perfectly, even his posture was flawless. Alec grumbled, he was fumbling a bit but his vigor was relentless. He was already in Isabelle's dominating shadow; he wasn't going to allow himself to be overshadowed by Jace too.

While Jace kicked the dummy over Alec blew his bangs out of his eyes and muttered before walking over towards the extremely tall balance beams. Jace panted and then wiped his forehead free of sweat before he rushed over to Alec who was already attempting to climb the dangerous piece of equipment.

"Uh Alec?" Jace said, biting his lip. "We're not supposed to practice flips on those ones?"

"I don't care." Alec growled and climbed higher. "I'm gonna prove I'm a good warrior, even better than YOU!"

"Alec you're nuts!" Jace exclaimed. Alec smirked when he reached the top of the bar but a lump formed in his throat when he looked down. It wasn't too high up, but it was high enough that Alec could potentially hurt himself if he landed wrong.

"Shut up Jace!" Alec gulped. His toes were on the edge of the bar as he strapped himself into the bungee gear and tightened it to fit his small frame. "I can do this!"

Alec swallowed hard and closed his eyes before taking the leap. He felt weightless for a moment until the velocity was almost too much for him. His leg went a bit above his head and it made hard contact with his skull. His bungee stopped him before he hit the ground, but he was a bit dazed and his head hurt badly.

"Alec! Are you ok?" Jace ran over towards him and kneeled so that he was at his level. Alec looked around for a moment, holding his head. He felt tears prick in his eyes. No. He couldn't cry in front of Jace, it would look bad. Warriors didn't cry and neither did Shadowhunters, Alec knew that. "Alec, oh my Angel, Alec are you ok? How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three." Alec groaned answering Jace's question correctly. He whimpered though when he tried to move. "O-Ow…"

"Don't try to move," Jace quickly inspected Alec. "You're just hurt, at the most it'll leave a bruise you don't have a concussion thank the Angel."

"J-Jace…" Alec found that tears were now streaming down his face because of the pain. He wove his fingers into Jace's shirt material and he started to cry harder. "I-I'm sorry…I'll stop trying to be b-better than y-you…its clear y-you're the better S-Shadowhunter!"

Jace's fingers were on Alec's cheeks, wiping away the hot tears that were streaming into his shirt. Alec's bottom lip trembled and Jace immediately felt sorry for him. He'd never had siblings until now so he never knew what it felt like to be forgotten when one succeeded and the other just needed a little extra push. Jace held Alec tighter.

"Alec," Jace replied. "One day we'll be fighting side by side, you don't have to be the best; your heart just must always be in the right place. You have no problem with that. One day, we'll be two of the best Shadowhunters who ever existed. Parabatai."

Alec knew what that word insinuated. That was a strong bond, the strongest actually. He couldn't believe Jace was suggesting such a thing between the two of them and Alec tried to hide his blushing, luckily he succeeded.

"Yeah." Alec sniffled and wiped his nose with a nod. "Parabatai."

With that, Jace smiled bigger and lifted Alec up from the floor. Alec took his hand and squeezed it hard and once they were eye to eye, still holding on to that hand, he smirked.

"Race yah to the dummies?" Jace suggested. "Think you can keep up Lightwood?"

"You bet Wayland!" Alec laughed and the pair took off.

**Read and Reviews are appreciated! :)**

**I've been wanting to write this one for awhile actually, ever since I read that quote. Hope you all enjoyed!**


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